Baking of farinaceous foods such as cakes, cookies, breads, pies, and pizzas, has changed little in the last several hundred years. Modern ovens still heat air inside a cooking cavity and transfer cooking energy to the farinaceous article being baked using the heated air.
There are several problems with this method of cooking. First, ovens using this method are inherently slow because they must, in sequence, activate a heater, such as an electrical coil, which then heats air, which then moves to the food being cooked, and transfers its heat to the food being cooked. Each step in this process is time consuming resulting in a long overall process. The process is also very inefficient.
Current variations on this method include moving the hot air inside the cooking cavity by using a fan, also referred to as convection cooking, and by using microwave energy to help speed the baking process.
Adding air movement, as in convection cooking, only helps reduce the time it takes to move the hot air from the heater to the food being cooked and to transfer the heat from the hot air to this food. The heater must still be activated to heat the air used to cook the food.
Adding microwave cooking to conventional ovens reduces baking times, but may unfavorably change the taste and texture of the foods being cooked, as for example, by making bread become rubbery.
What is needed is a method of cooking cakes, cookies, breads, pies, and pizzas as well as other foods, which reduces cooking times and increases cooking efficiency, while maintaining or enhancing food textures and flavors. A further benefit of the this method should be that it is simple to use and forgiving to an unskilled user. Versatility in offering other modes of cooking would also be desirable.